Yogya – Scores of students from the Student Struggle Center for National Liberation (Pembebasan) held an action in solidarity with the October 31-November 1 national strike in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta. The action, which was held in front of the Yogyakarta Presidential Palace, was marked with the lighting of one thousand candles.

Edzan Raharjo, Yogyakarta – An action in solidarity with the national strike was held by scores of students from the Student Struggle Center for National Liberation (Pembebasan) at the Yogyakarta Presidential Palace in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta on Friday evening.

Erul, Makassar – On Thursday October 31, several different organisations from the group Social Solidarity Action for the Indonesian People (Samurai) again held a protest action in front of Makassar Industrial Zone (KIMA) Gate II on Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan Km 15 in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar.

Sandy Adam Mahaputra, Syahrul Ansyari – The president of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI), Said Iqbal, is demanding that three social organisations in Bekasi, West Java, be held accountable for an attack on workers who were holding a peaceful demonstration.

Agita Sukma Listyanti, Surabaya – Protesting workers are threatening to occupy the East Java governor’s office in the provincial capital of Surabaya if their demands for a regional and municipal minimum wage (UMK) of 3 million rupiah a month are not met, saying that for workers this amount is non-negotiable.

Document reads: ‘Iron-Sand Mining Project Permit’

Semarang – Hundreds for workers from the Indonesian Metal Trade Workers Federation (FSPMI) in the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang have blockaded the Java northern coast (pantura) road demanding that the Central Java governor agree to a 3 million rupiah a month minimum wage for workers.

Jakarta – Former labour activist Dita Indah Sari says that a mature labour movement must strengthen its “negotiating muscles” or capacity to negotiate with individual companies rather then organise big demonstrations to achieve wage settlements.

According to a labour observer, although wages continue to rise, the real value of workers’ wages has declined so workers are being impoverished structurally.

Jakarta – Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad, Green Berets) commander Lieutenant General Gatot Nurmantyo has expressed doubts about the current course of democracy.

Yogyakarta – Freedom of association in the era of reformasi (the reform process beginning in 1998) is, as it turns out, still little more than jargon.

Wahyu Aji, Jakarta – It seems that not everybody has a negative assessment of Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi’s appeal to regional governments to foster closer ties with the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) as a partner in development.

Pito Agustin Rudiana, Sleman – A social gathering by victims of the 1965 tragedy at the Santi Dharma Retreat in Godean sub-district, Sleman regency, Yogyakarta, was attacked by the Indonesian Anti-Communist Front (FAKI) on Sunday October 27.

Man: A fantasy umbrella waving in the morning sun, hey, hey who is she...

Kid: May I see your radiant face... hey, hey Bunda Putri... (from the song Payung Fantasi by Ismail Marzuk)

Sulistiyono, Jakarta – Labour Movement National Committee (KNGB) member Said Iqbal has confirmed that a national strike will be held in late October and will be joined by millions of workers and include, among other things, demands for the abolition of outsourcing.

Observers say that the arrest of Constitutional Court Chief Justice Akil Mochtar on corruption charges has severely shaken the public’s faith in the judicial system and ordinary people are starting to despair in the face of a litany of corruption and bribery cases involving every branch of power – legislative, judicial and executive.

Cat: A dynasty? What’s wrong with that if you can do it...

Man: If you can bribe people right Mr?

Raka F Pujangga, Semarang – An Indonesian labour movement workshop at the Pandanaran Hotel in the Central Java capital of Semarang facilitated by the Trade Union Rights Centre (TURC) has been forcibly closed down by police who claim they did not have a permit for the event.

Jakarta – Thousands of workers from Jakarta and surrounding areas demonstrated demanding welfare improvements on Thursday October 17. The action created traffic jams between Jl. Jenderal Sudirman, Jl Thamrin, the Indonesia traffic circle and in the vicinity of the State Palace. Similar protest were held in West and East Java.

Migrant workers: We’re always the victims. Platform reads Foreign Exchange Heroes, bubble reads Legal Protection.